When respected travel writer Bill Bryson arrived in
Melbourne for the very first time in 1992, he said that he was, “Astounded to
find it there at all.” Bryson said his impressions of Australia had largely been
moulded by his interest in the film, The Sundowners, which depicted Robert
Mitchum and Deborah Kerr as a knockabout shearer and his wife in the late 19th
Century.
Upon his arrival on the other side of the world, he
found a large and thriving metropolis with tall building, trams and buses and
he fell in love with the place and its people. Well a lot of people have had
that experience, most notably the London journalist, Louis Sala, who on a visit
in 1885, wrote back to his English newspaper glowing articles about “Marvellous
Melbourne.” Sala’s description has stuck
and on numerous visits to Melbourne I always have to agree that Melbourne is
indeed a marvellous place. It is possessed of magnificent colonial
architecture, many spacious and well cared for public parks and gardens, an excellent
public transport system and a town plan built on a rectangular grid of long
straight streets that makes it very easy for a visitor to navigate around. And
of course it is the home of one of the world’s most exciting games, Australian
Rules Football. In typical “weird mob” fashion I can say that Australian Rules
Football is actually governed by “The Laws of Football.” So, as many strangers to our shores have
said, there actually are no rules in Australian Rules at all. What there are, are
Laws. So, perhaps it should be called Australian Laws Football? Not quite the same, is it?
Ah, yes, Marvellous Melbourne. For all of this, I suppose,
we should thank John Batman, who ventured over from Tasmania to Port Phillip
Bay in June, 1835, sailed up the Yarra until he came to a place where he
famously said, “This will be the place for a village.”
Batman is unique in Australian history. In contrast to other
early explorers who came before him or afterwards, he was the only one who felt
it necessary to discuss the ownership of the land with the original
inhabitants. He sat down with eight elders of the Wurundgeri tribe and for
various baubles, bangles and beads, plus a few hand mirrors, purchased 600 000 acres (24 000 square
kilometres) of land in Melbourne and 100 000 acres (4000 square kilometres) in
Geelong. Of course it is possible that the elders, coming from a culture that
has absolutely no concept of land ownership, may not have had a solid grasp of the real
estate business that John Batman was engaging them in. In recent days, those who like to revisit and rewrite history are blaming Batman for all sorts of atrocities against the Aborigines. In fact the Labor member for the Federal seat of Batman wants the seat to be renamed. As William Shakespeare had Mark Antony tell us, "The evil that men do lives after them" Certainly seems to be true in poor old John Batman's case.
Shortly after Batman made his land deal, he headed back to
Tasmania to make further arrangements for his Port Phillip Bay settlement. Within
a few days of his departure, another group of settlers, under the sponsorship of
John Pascoe Fawkner, sailed up the Yarra and established themselves on what was
ostensibly, John Batman’s land. Fortunately, when Batman returned a few weeks
later, with more settlers, the two groups were able to negotiate a peaceful
compromise and the Port Phillip settlement grew and prospered.
The Governor of NSW at the time, and therefore the Queen’s
representative of the entire continent of Australia, was an Irishman named
Sir Richard Bourke. Governor Bourke viewed Batman’s land treaty with the natives with much alarm. In 1835,
he passed Terra Nullius legislation, which basically said that nobody could conduct any form
of trade or sale of land with the indigenous people. This law enshrined the belief
that the entire continent of Australia belonged to the Queen of England.
Batman’s treaty with the indigenous inhabitants was obviously a threat and
Governor Bourke annulled it on August 26, 1835. However, he accepted as a fait
accompli that the land around Port Phillip Bay had been settled and allowed the
settlers to remain on their land.
We can thank Governor Bourke for the city’s name. He named
it when he visited in 1837, in honour of the British Prime Minister
William Lamb, the 2nd Viscount Melbourne. (Rather a shame that he did not name it Bourke, but that's just my opinion.)
We should all be grateful that Governor Bourke gave
Melbourne that grand sounding name, because up until then the settlement had
been variously called Batmania, Bearbrass, Bareport, Barehurp and Bareberp. Can
you imagine the Australian nation coming to a standstill on the first Tuesday
in November each year to listen to the running of the Bareberp Cup?
Of course Bourke Street, Melbourne, the city’s famous
thoroughfare was named in his honour. And it was in the bustling Chinatown, at the top end of Little
Bourke Street, that Lesley and I stayed in the surprisingly spacious, well-appointed
and relatively inexpensive City Limits Hotel on the final stage of our 2014 jaunt around the eastern
seaboard, when we returned to Melbourne after visiting Sydney.
I had booked our accommodation at City Limits, via the
internet, prior to our departure on Queen Mary 2 from Fremantle, in early March.
When the ship called in to Melbourne, en route to Sydney, about six
days later, we went to check out the accommodation and then we met some friends in a quirky
little café bar in Bourke Street by the name of Madame Brussels. This place had
a rather risqué menu and drinks list. The young people serving on the tables
all wore rather sporting attire. Its advertising brochure promotes the place as
Kooky, Kitsch and lots of fun.
I didn’t know it at the time but the real Madame Brussels
was actually a very well known, not to say notorious, brothel madam of the late
19th Century. Her well-appointed brothels were situated in Lonsdale
Street, which was close to Melbourne’s Parliament House and the politicians and legal
fraternity, from whence came many of her clients. In fact, her brothels were
referred to as Gentlemen’s Clubs and attracted the city’s political,
judicial and police elite. It was said that her business thrived because of the
formidable support she had from people in high places. Very high places.
Madame Brussels was born as Caroline Lohman in Prussia in
1851. She travelled to England in her late teens where she soon married a well-connected Englishman, George Hodgson. George, a member of a noble family was not favourably regarded by some family member. As a result, in 1871, the newly
married couple promptly set sail for Melbourne. George became a policeman and
was transferred to Mansfield in the Ned Kelly country near Beechworth in northern Victoria. He went there on his own. The
21 year old Caroline stayed in Melbourne. In 1893, her husband, George, died of TB. Caroline, who had placed him in a nursing home during his illness, arranged for his funeral and wrote a loving
death notice in the newspapers about the sad loss of her beloved husband. In the notice she also pointed out that George was connected to the British aristocracy. She continued put notices in the paper on each anniversary of his death.
Living alone in Melbourne, the young Caroline had limited choices. She decided to think big. By 1874, the 23 year old Caroline, now known as Madam Brussels, was
successfully running a number of brothels, which she continued to do until
1907. Why brothels? Well, a young woman in
a strange land, with little financial support had very restricted job
prospects, especially, with while her poorly paid policeman husband living so far away from home. Some suggest that running a brothel was by far the best paying job open to a woman in those days. The only other alternatives were teaching, nursing secretarial work or even lower paid jobs in domestic service. Apparently, Caroline was quite skilled at running a brothel, or two, and they proved to be very, very
profitable.
Just over twenty years later, in 1895, two years after husband George had died, she married a much younger man, Jacob Pohl. She was then
aged about 45 and Jacob was about 30. However, the following year, young Jacob
mysteriously disappeared in South Africa when the couple were en route to visit
family in Germany. They reconciled in 1898, when Jacob just as mysteriously
showed up once again, only to divorce in 1907 on the grounds of his desertion. Definitely some very funny family business going on there.
In her later years, she was vigorously attacked by members
of the moral and righteous in the community as “an accursed procuress” and
taken to court in 1907. However, she won the sympathy of the court as a
benevolent old lady (she was 56), reciting eloquently how she had been wronged. No doubt She felt quite comfortable defending herself in that Melbourne court house. After the Judge, Senior Council, several distinguished juror and even some of the members of the press were all members of her Gentlemen's Club.
She was acquitted, but closed her business down that same year and died of diabetes and pancreatitis in 1908, aged 57 years. Surely, someday, someone will write a book or make a film about the remarkable Caroline Lohman who rose tpo wealth and powere ij Msarvellous Melbourne in the second half of the 19th Century. If I was the Casting Director I would be trying to sign up Scarlett Johannsen or Charleze Theron in the starring role.
She was acquitted, but closed her business down that same year and died of diabetes and pancreatitis in 1908, aged 57 years. Surely, someday, someone will write a book or make a film about the remarkable Caroline Lohman who rose tpo wealth and powere ij Msarvellous Melbourne in the second half of the 19th Century. If I was the Casting Director I would be trying to sign up Scarlett Johannsen or Charleze Theron in the starring role.
In a coincidental connection with her first husband’s stint
at Mansfield, where Ned Kelly and his family were well known, her lawyer in
the 1907 court case was David Gaunson. In 1880, as a member of the Victorian parliament,
Gaunson had been one of the leading lights in the large public rallies to have
Kelly’s death sentence overturned.
Ah, yes. After two weeks in Sydney and the Blue Mountains we were back in in Marvellous Melbourne. We had a week to enjoy
the Annual Garden and Flower Show at the magnificent Exhibition Centre, the
Centre for the Moving Image in Federation Square, The National Gallery of
Victoria, The Percy Grainger Museum at Melbourne University, The Melbourne
Recital Centre, the many shops and arcades and the excitement of watching a West Coast Eagles winning game at the
MCG.
Percy Grainger museum. Gifted musician and very naughty boy. |
Melbourne Uni student protesting budget cuts to education in Bourke Street. |
The first thing I had to do was purchase a new memory card
for my camera. We found a camera store and when I showed the lady my camera she
shook her head sadly and said that it was very old. Well, aren’t we all? After
a search she said that she had found one card that would fit my camera. I said,
“I’ll take it.” It cost me fifty dollars, but now I can take 8350 photos before
my memory card fills. Of course, I’ll download them onto my computer long
before that happens.
Lesley at the Annual Flower Show in the Exhibition Building. |
As well as that, we caught up with much loved family and
friends and enjoyed the busy metropolis with its cafes and restaurants and
first class public transport. The cafes are a feature of Melbourne. When Melbourne people come into town
each morning, they do not go to work, they go to eat and drink in coffee shops,
cafes and restaurants which are always filled no matter what time of day it is.
I think they start at breakfast and just sit straight through till knock off
time. In fact a lot of the people in these cafes and such like are actually
doing business. A lot of them seem to be having meetings while others have
their iPhones, lap tops or iPads out and operating.
As they say, all good things must end and early on a Monday
morning we bid a fond farewell to our comfy hotel in Chinatown, caught a taxi to
Tullamarine and just over six hours later we were back home in Heathridge. It is
wonderful to travel, but, oh, how lucky are we that after it all we can return
to Perth in Western Australia. If there is a better place to come back to then
I have yet to find it.
When we returned home friends and family asked what the
highlights of our trip were. Well, it was all a great big highlights coming one
after the other. The luxurious Queen Mary 2, exciting Sydney, the beauty of the
Blue Mountains, Jenolan Caves, The Alpine Way and of course, Marvellous
Melbourne.
However, for me, the greatest highlight occurred at about
3-15pm on our first afternoon back home. I was out the front, watering the
garden, when our daughter, Sarah, pulled up on our verge after having picked up our grandchildren,
Sophie and Luc, from school. As I turned off the tap, Sophie dashed from the
car, sprinted down the path and with a beaming smile on her face gave me a big
hug and said, “I missed you, Grandpa.”
Now that is a marvellous highlight.
Outside the National Gallery of Victoria. National??? |
Entry to the very interesting Centre for the Moving Image. |
Sone genius designed the Visitors' Centre as an oversized bus and plonked it between Flinders Street Station and Federation Square. |
They call it Young and Jackson's Hotel, but the famous home of nude portrait of the lovely, Chloe, is properly known as as Young and Jackson's Princes Bridge hotel. |
Flinders Station.One of the busiest railway stations in the world. |
A relaxing beer at the Imperial Hotel on a sunny Autumn day. Opposite Parliament House in Spring Street. |
Jack Pougher (third from right) with Runners Up medals after a thrilling basket ball Grand Final. Jack was MVP. |
Jacqui and Lesley at home in Caulfield |
David, Jack and Jaqui Pougher. |
En route to the MCG through Treasury Gardens. |
The Eagles warm up before demolishing Melbourne at the MCG. |
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